James Kalm

James Kalm has been watching the work of Frank Stella since his days as a student in the Far West. This icon of New York Modernism presents “Polychrome Reliefs” as his statement of where painting is today. Though not properly reliefs, nor paintings, these extravagant works employ the latest in high tech composites, stainless steel and lustrous lacquers. These works juxtapose curving organic forms with pierced and engineered struts and ribbing, contrasting the mechanical with the romantic and continuing Stella’s theoretical investigations of color and form. With appearances by Kenny Scharf, Irving Sandler, Adam Weinberg, Mark Kostabi and of course Stella.

James Kalm makes a must see stop for this double bill during the 2009 season opening night in Chelsea. Both Kara Walker and Mark Bradford have gained recognition for their work with paper, cut silhouettes for the former and grand scaled collage for the latter. Walker weaves a narrative derived from the history of slavery and repression, while Bradford imbues his work with an abject elegance capturing the essence and life of contemporary urban neighborhoods. Includes an interview with Kara Walker discussing her views on the painterly direction of some recent work.

James Kalm climbs to the top of the pile of tires in this “reinvention” of Allan Kaprow’s Yard at the debut exhibition of Hauser & Wirth New York. William Pope.L adds his own narrative text using a Barack Obama imitator, and flashing lights in this restaging. Upstairs we tour an in depth collection of posters, prints and documentation tracing the historic arc of this “Happening” which was originally created in this very location in 1961.

James Kalm partakes in the press preview for this icon of American Modernism. Over twenty years in the making, this exhibition surveys the lesser known but perhaps more profound side of O’Keeffe’s work, her abstraction. Beginning with her discovery and eventual relationship with Alfred Stieglitz in 1916, O’Keeffe was thrust to the stratosphere of the New York art scene. She was at the forefront of pursuing a type of organic abstraction that Stieglitz championed as America’s contribution to Modernism. Examples of O’Keeffe’s paintings covering nearly fifty years of development are on view. Includes brief statements by Director Adam D. Weinberg and the curatorial team lead by Barbara Haskell, Barbara Buhler Lynes and Sasha Nicholas.

I’ve now been asked by Jim Rutman from Sterling Lord Literistic Inc. to remove the Dave Hickey lecture videos. I have no idea who Jim Rutman is, or what his relationship to Dave Hickey is, but I am taking this all under advisement. I still intend to write Mr. Hickey a letter regarding this matter. Mr. Rutman's letter appears below.

I just received the following letter from Michael Grant asking me to remove video recordings that I made at the September 17th lecture of Dave Hickey at the SVA Theater and posted on my internet network. I have no desire to employ a cadre of lawyers to sort this out, but it strikes me as extremely ironic that one of New York’s most prestigious and “progressive” institutions of higher art education is, through some misguided desire of control and artistic suppression, actually seeking to destroy works of art.

We’re entering a new age, and as I’ve stated before, I believe the Kalm Report to be an art project that melds reportage, documentation, performance and art criticism. Fittingly, Dave Hickey states in this lecture that “if I saw the new art, I probably wouldn’t like it, I’m too old”. Seems to me that SVA needs to “get young” too.

I made a point of being in the audience for Dave Hickey’s latest lecture at the School of Visual Arts. I love Hickey and try to see all his local appearances. After video recording most of the talk, editing it and posting it at my facebook page I spent the next evening watching the Coen Brother’s “No Country for Old Men”. It dawned on me that despite Hickey’s ultra coolness, there’s a shared appeal between himself and Tommy Lee Jones’ grizzled Sheriff Ed Tom Bell.

James Kalm, despite the daunting task of trying to capture the grand spectacle of 113 openings, muddles on, and brings viewers a select few of the exhibitions on offer. Drawings and recent paintings by Raoul De Keyser and the “Afro Margin” drawings by Chris Ofili begin out tour at David Zwirner. Heading north, we pop in for a glance at the double shows of Kara Walker and Mark Bradford at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. and then slip in at Sonnabend to catch a look at the Photo-Realistic Surrealism of Matthew Weinstein. Trying to beat the clock we get an oh so brief look at Maya Lin’s installation, ”Three Ways of Looking at the Earth” at Pace/Wildenstein. We wrap-up with a viewing of the luminous abstractions of Kylie Heidenheimer, at 532 Thomas Jaeckel Gallery and pause to reflect on the 9/11 Memorial Lights over lower Manhattan.